A good manager has to be a good coach

If you’re in the market for one tidbit of leadership acumen, you should know that helping your team evolve meaningfully at work is one of the most important things you can do as a manager. To do this successfully, you need to know what drives every team member so that you can build strong links between a person’s work and the strategic objectives of an organisation.

Regular communication and collaborative discussions are the key to unlocking the potential of team members. So having coaching conversations with them is an essential part of being an adept leader. In fact, coa-ching is perhaps the most effective managerial capability that separates a great manager from an average run-of-the-mill one.

For anyone to succeed at the workplace, they must possess a healthy balance of skills, knowledge and attitude. A manager needs to rotate between the roles of a mentor, counsellor and coach – whenever it is required for the team. The manager has to lead by example, and coaching a team to upgrade their skills is perhaps the best gift any manager could bestow on his team.

Coaching is necessary for all kinds of teams and functionalities within an organisation – wh-ether it is to enhance the sales and marketing function, improve customer relationships, optimise the production line and supply chain or streamline finance and accounting. When your staff has expressed the willingness to learn new skills, a manager must step into the shoe of a smart coach – to empower the team with the right skills and to lead by example.

A leader who coaches his team through self-experience is likely to command better respect and will be able to create a winning team. But managers who move laterally within an organisation may not always have the right coaching skills, due to sheer lack of experience.

Can you possibly teach result-focused managers to coach their employees? It’s most certainly advisable, because training is expected to propel performance upwards in both directions – managers turn into coaches and are able to equip their juniors with enhanced skills for success.

Strangely enough, too many employers don’t recognise the need for coaching.  Coaching isn’t part of the manager’s job description. Though coaching is essential for learning and career development of employees, managers don’t see this as part of their role within an organisation – they feel that there isn’t time for these conversations or they lack the basic skill needed to teach team members how to function better. But it is extremely important for any manager to note that over 70 per cent of any employee education takes place through acquiring specific on-the-job skills and not through formal programmes.

Positive experience
Becoming a coach is a powerful experience for any manager as it forms a deep connection with team members to help them with achievements they care about within the strategic goals of the organisation. Coaching forges positive energy between a manager and his employees and training people for growth will fortify fruitful workplace relationships – building a strong foundation for the company’s eventual success.

A coach invariably acts as a cheerleader who urges his team to do better. A good manager can turn into a great manager by coaching team members with new skills and assets – making him more effective as a manager, while enabling him to enjoy work more. As you resolve to facilitate the ongoing learning of your team, you must learn to develop a listening ear to understand what members are going through. You need to ask your team members, not tell them everything they need to do – asking open-ended questions without providing the answer is a key coaching tool.

A good coach always takes the time to acknowledge the frustration of employees, before helping them move forward positively – this way, employees feel that their voices are being heard. Besides offering a listening ear and helping employees move forward with strategic implementation plans, a good coach holds the team responsible for execution.
Good coaching builds impenetrable bonds between a manager and team members. Empowering them with skills for peak performance and helping them take ownership of their learning will catalyse the growth of employees within an organisation. It’s important for every good manager to be a good coach, because coaching is a special art form that encourages ordinary people to achieve extraordinary things – with the eventual belief that success will become a habitual formula for the team.
(The writer is  transformational training designer and Chief Mentor, Viztar International)